Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28013
Hints and tips by Kitty
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Warmest greetings, my fellow crossworders. I do hope that today finds you happy and content.
I enjoyed blogging last week so much that I have come back for more. I can reassure you that our usual Monday blogger is safe and well and in no way forcibly prevented from doing the hints.
Thanks to Rufus, who has provided us with his classic Monday mix which didn’t give me many hold-ups.
The definitions are underlined in the clues below. The answers are hidden under the ANSWER boxes. The “click here!” is not an instruction but an option – click to reveal the answer should you wish.
Do leave a comment telling us how you found it and what you thought.
Across
1a Saint George, shocked by such discrimination (11)
SEGREGATION: To kick us off, we nag a ram. The letters in SAINT GEORGE are messed up (shocked)
9a Device preventing leaves from spreading around (5,4)
PAPER CLIP: Classic Monday clue type number two. A cryptic definition, the key being that these leaves are made of paper
10a Yet it provides academic standing (5)
CHAIR: A professorship, or non-academic bog-standard seating
11a Study painting externally, being passionate (6)
ARDENT: One of the usual two crosswordland studies (the room), with painting (or something of its ilk) around the outside of it (externally)
12a Plants for sycophants (8)
CREEPERS: Double definition (though the second would more usually be seen without the 6th and 7th letters)
13a A speaker returning brief thanks amid golden words (6)
ORATOR: A short word of thanks backwards (returning) inside (amid) two instances of the heraldic golden
15a Time for breakfast food (8)
PORRIDGE: Two definitions. One is stir, the other something you would stir
ARVE Error: need id and provider |
18a Cars go for service (8)
MINISTRY: Cars of a popular marque and a go or attempt. The service is vocational
19a Catch the blame after net is damaged (6)
ENTRAP: Blame or censure after an anagram (damaged) of NET
21a Length that boxers will go to, to avoid KO? (8)
DISTANCE: Spatial extent, or the full number of rounds in a boxing match which a boxer will go if fighting a whole bout without being knocked out
ARVE Error: need id and provider |
23a Time when all assets were frozen? (3,3)
ICE AGE: A period where a great part of the earth’s surface was under ice. Not sure about the all or the assets, but the question mark allows some licence.
Glaciologically, ice age is often used to mean a period of ice sheets in the northern and southern hemispheres; by this definition we are still in an ice age (because the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets still exist).
More colloquially, when speaking of the last few million years, ice age is used to refer to colder periods with extensive ice sheets over the North American and Eurasian continents: in this sense, the most recent ice age ended about 10,000 years ago.
From: http://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/ice_age.htm
26a Expect a hold-up (5)
AWAIT: A from the clue and then delay
27a On a charge after disturbance in port (9)
ANCHORAGE: The letters in ON A CHARGE, after disturbance – of the type that would nag a ram. Also, a city in Alaska, pictured
28a Evocative of not long ago with short skirts being in (11)
REMINISCENT: Take a word meaning a short time ago and insert (with … being in) the short skirts that share their name with the cars above
Down
1d Parson crazed with love for a trebly gifted female (7)
SOPRANO: An anagram (crazed) of parson, then the letter that denotes zero or love
ARVE Error: need id and provider |
2d Space-man yawned (5)
GAPED: A space and then a short form of a male name
3d Wrong, or sure one is wrong (9)
ERRONEOUS: The fodder is OR SURE ONE IS, and the definition is the same as the anagram indicator. They are both wrong. Everything is wrong:
ARVE Error: need id and provider |
4d Flags and sail will need adjusting (4)
AILS: This is one of our clues to annoy a male sheep and it has only four letters that will need adjusting: those of SAIL
5d Popular individual is actually present (2,6)
IN PERSON: The most popular word for popular in crosswords followed by a human
6d Recess in pleasant hospital (5)
NICHE: In a word for pleasant, insert the abbreviation for hospital
7d Predict vocal quartet will go to Ely perhaps (7)
FORESEE: A word that sounds like (vocal) quartet and then what Ely is an example of, ecclesiastically speaking
8d Perfume the French sell with hesitation (8)
LAVENDER: Put together one of the French words for the, an English one for sell and, um, a hesitation
14d One who can’t remember me, as I can recollect (8)
AMNESIAC: ME AS I CAN is re-collected
16d Unexpectedly meet resistance – woman in angry mood (3,6)
RUN ACROSS: The symbol for electrical resistance, then a three-letter name that should appear in due course below the line in the comments. I hope she is not in an angry mood, but in any case that annoyed state of mind accounts for the final bit of the answer
17d Declare in favour of petitioner’s cause (8)
PROCLAIM: Split (3,5) this would mean for [an] application
18d Urchin lad wandering in gloom (7)
MUDLARK: An anagram (wandering) of LAD inside (in) a lovely word for gloom. (Well, I like it!) An archaic term for someone who scavenges in river mud for items of value, especially those who scavenged this way in London during the late 18th and 19th centuries. Also, a bird, pictured
20d Make an introduction here and now (7)
PRESENT: Two definitions. A third would be a gift, in more than one sense
22d Tears shed for Flora (5)
ASTER: The flora is a genus of flowering plants, an anagram (shed) of TEARS
24d Knowing a monarch should be held in high regard? (5)
AWARE: A from the clue and the one letter abbreviation for a king or queen, all inside (should be held in) reverence or veneration
25d Take a look at part of Tuscany (4)
SCAN: A lurker – it’s hidden in (part of) the final word
The final word is yours. As is usual for a Monday I’ll be busy all afternoon, so I’ll “see” you this evening. Be good!
The Quick Crossword pun: STRIKE+ALIGHT=STRIKE A LIGHT
Lovely Rufus Monday morning with his usual charm and style */***
Thanks to Kitty for the blog,
My thoughts exactly!
Great blog, Kitty, but, oh dear – unless you are American, licence is a noun and license is a verb. :negative:
:whistle:
I’ve lived in America for 40 years and I still get into trouble here. They use just one spelling to cover both nouns and verbs and I can never remember which one it is!
My aide memoire is to think of advice (noun) and advise (verb) which are at least pronounced differently. Then you know the “c” version is the noun, e.g. licence, practice.
I know that, but which one do they use in America to cover both nouns and verbs? I did medical transcription and woe and betide me if I used the wrong one, it was swiftly rejected as a spelling mistake! “Don’t you have a spell checker?” How do you explain that there is a different spelling for nouns and verbs, as in device and devise, but then I’m told that they sound different! It’s the same rule, isn’t it?
Our local 24 hour shop describes itself as an ‘Off license’.
Practice and Practise is another one in the good old USA….They are both spelt the same. Guess which!!!
Even spelt or spelled……the list goes on.
So there is confusion in UK, too. From early schooldays, and I mean early, we had it beaten into us. I think they were more picky years ago.
What a lot of discussion a little typo* spawned!
I do the same as RD if I forget which is practice and which is practise, for e.g. As for remembering which the Americans use, I usually go by which feels less “right” to me and that seems to do it! Otherwise, you could think that the s’s that don’t get used in the American -ize suffix find a home in these words (I don’t know where the displaced c’s go – perhaps they somehow morph into z’s to complete the circle). Something like that.
*Yes – a typo. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Anyway, I have an edit button and am not afraid to use it!
Never mind Kitty, when I was younger I used to get these words mixed up – there’s quite a few of them where ‘c’ is the noun and ‘s’ is the verb form. I resolved it years ago by a simple mnemonic – if you remember that c for n(oun) comes alphabetically before s for v(erb), you’ll never forget. Or even simpler – c for n and s for v are all consecutive in the alphabet. Well it worked for me! We all have these spelling idiosyncrasies – whilst I’ve never had a problem with ceilidh; even today (at well over 60) I still have problems with yatch, er, or is it yaucht, or maybe yahct……… :wacko:
Many thanks Kitty for a lovely blog.
I hadn’t come across 18d before. All over way too quickly, enjoyed all the typical Rufus clues like Space-man yawned (2d), Yet it provides academic standing (10a) and many more.
Many thanks Rufus.
Thanks Rufus for letting us off lightly on a Monday morning and Kitty i have enjoyed reading more of your perspicacious hints. Liked 9a, 10a and 12a. **/***.
Am wondering whether Paul Wisken, the wizard who broke the code on a cosmetic box for the Antiques Roadshow, is one of BD’s bloggers? :question:
Great minds, Angel. I had exactly that thought too when reading the article in today’s DT.
Well it wasn’t me Angel and there is nobody in The Gallery that looks like the fellow in the photo. But who knows? Who really knows?
How did you escape? ;)
I wondered that too. Very clever anyway.
I solved in the early hours but fell asleep with three to go. I managed to put AWAKE in K for King instead of R for Rex at 24d. Silly me. I hope JLC is happy with the Rugby result Yesterday. Coventry’y second team were so nearly there.
It was really a last minute victory.
Let’s hope they will do better against Bath this weekend.
Very enjoyable – I got about two-thirds through it and came to a bit of a standstill – a couple of hours absence refreshed my little grey cells and I managed to get through it – with a little help from my Wordsearch program.
Good workout for a Monday morning!
:good:
Monday, toast and marmalade, tea and Rufus, all’s right with the world-well not quite! a */***.very pleasant solve for me , heard of a mudlark previously, but apart from the bird , didn’t know its origins-thanks Kitty, 10a my favourite; still miserable in Cheshire.
There was an old British film called ‘the Mudlark’ with Alec Guinness as Disraeli and Irene Dunn as Queen Victoria – a young Andrew Ray played a boy who worked as a scavenger on the Thames foreshore who had a desire to see the Queen – it was a cracker!
:good:
There’s also a pub called “The Mudlark” very close to London Bridge and a stone’s throw from “The George”, well-known to many on here.
I remember the film … my, that was a loooooong time ago!
Le moineau de la Tamise. That takes us back a bit.
And how about these Mudlarks?
Dylan, eat your heart out. Those were the days when lyrics were deep and meaningful. :wink:
Great.
Even my 17 years old daughter was singing along. A real classic.
Or these very interesting ones
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/steve-brooker-the-mudlark-unearthing-the-thames-history-6267918.html
And More
http://www.thamesandfield.com/
I really want to go mudlarking with the Mud God now!
Mostly R&W with the exception of the SW corner where I had to dig deep into the memory bank to come up with 18d and was slow off the mark with 18a.
Favourite was 21a – doubly so, given the Kitty clip!
Thanks to Rufus for a gentle start to the week and to Kitty for a great blog – nice to see you back again so soon. :good:
Thanks to Rufus and to Kitty for the review and hints. A very nice start to the week, a bit on the gentle side. Great fun though. Favourite was 9a, also liked 18d, last in was 4d.Was 1*/3* for me. Completed sitting by the lake in Parliament Hill.
A gently amusing start tot the week for mum and I. Definitely a chocolate biscuit day. Mum’s GP gave her a dementia test last week, she rocked it! A page full of puzzles every day is prophylactic.
Do not understand what 4D has to do with sheep. So few anagrams of sails. Please help.
annoy a male sheep = nag a ram, i.e., an anagram of sail which is ails for flags
Thanks for explaining, Maeve.
Geoff – perhaps I should speak more plainly, but I have to use the word “anagram” so many times that I try and mix it up a bit. Last week I confined myself to using the word only once in the hints. (And that was a day it appeared 13 times in the comments!) This week I was going to run with the “nag a ram” thing instead of using the word, but decided against it in the end. Incidentally, this is what Google asks you if you meant if you search for “anagram.”
Nice and easy does it.
A very entertaining blog from Kitty for which many thanks.
The cat in the clip for 21a doesn’t seem to be a southpaw!
As typical a Rufus puzzle as it is possible to get, full of his usual trademarks and superbly crafted of course.
I’ll go for the two clues involving “minis” as my favourites, i.e. 18a and 28a.
Many thanks to Mr. Squires and to Kitty.
Lovely Monday puzzle, right up my Strasse.
I didn’t know the word for urchin at 18d, had to look that one up, otherwise it all went pretty smoothly.
Thanks to Rufus and to Kitty for her most entertaining blog, particularly for the clip at 21a!
*/***. Over very quickly but enjoyable. Liked 2d the best. Thanks to the setter and Kitty for the review.
Nice gentle stroll in the park where perhaps we might see a treecreeper but probably not a Mudlark, although goodness knows we have had enough rain! :wink: */** Thanks to Kitty and to Rufus for an enjoyable Monday solve :good: Liked 18a, 8d & 18d :yahoo:
Typical Monday Rufus.
Liked the anagram in 1a and the “space man” in 2d.
Thanks to Rufus and to Kitty for the colourful review.
Interesting that you should call the review “colourful,” Jean-Luc. In fact, I restricted my colour palette in the pictures because of today’s date.
(I didn’t mention it because it has its roots in meaningless PR drivel, but was still drawn to include the pictorial mini-theme and see if anyone would notice.)
It’s the blue thing. Favourite colour. That’s the first thing that came to mind when I read the review. Spooky!
Well done, JL. I had to go online to find out what on earth Kitty was talking about! Actually – my Blue Monday hasn’t been too bad!
JL, you win today’s prize. It is the chair that didn’t make it into the blog:
Chair.
(Edit: it seems picture embedding in comments is one of the features that didn’t survive after last week. Oh well.)
All very enjoyable , fun without too much head scratching.I liked 16d best, being the girl in question and no I am not in an angry mood at all.But I am slightly bothered as we had booked an Air B+B accommodation last night for a family holiday and we have been gazumped. I didn’t know that could happen.
Thanks to Rufus and Kitty.
Gentle fun. Everything we expect to see on a Monday.
Thanks Rufus and Kitty.
1*/3* for this entertaining Rufus Monday puzzle. Over far too quickly, but still enjoyed the clueing. Favourite was 27 across. Many thanks to the aforementioned and Kitty for an entertaining post-solve read.
Good evening everybody
All very straightforward but not especially quick with SW corner requiring a bit of head scratching, Favourites were 21a and the 18s. Into three star time I think so
***/***
Yep, must be Monday – nothing to scare the nags and over far too quickly. Pretty much a R&W but I do think without the checkers, 10 & 23a definitions were a tad woolly. Also having Minis used in 18 & 28a across was a bit lazy even though the hints were different. Maybe I’m just being overly picky and for that I do apologise. 15a did raise a smile.
Thanks to Rufus for the puzzle and to Kitty once again in the blogging chair.
Over all too soon, but plenty of smiles along the way: 1*/3.5*. One of the biggest smiles was prompted by my favourite clue – 18d. Thanks, Rufus, for a fine start to the week, and Kitty for an equally fine review. Your good wishes are appreciated, and warmly reciprocated.
What a great puzzle.
What a great blog.
Many thanks.
Hi all. I’ve done some work, demolished plenty of food, and am now back. It seems you have been very well behaved in my absence. When I said be good, I didn’t mean that kind of good!
Thanks for all the kind comments. They make Kitty purr :yes:.
Game of two halves, I did the top half in about xx minutes, but some of the bottom half was utterly unfathomable without the hints.
Thanks to the setter and to Kitty for the hints, though in some cases, I found that the hints needed hints!!
We do not mention solving times in case we discourage others who take.longer, even for half a crossword!
Ok, sorry.
we know exactly what you mean, Hoofit (if we may be so familiar – we absolutely love your moniker!). Sometimes we dash through the first part of the puzzle in a matter of minutes and think we are geniuses, only to ponder for ages over the rest – game of two halves, as you say.
Yup, Good as usual for a Monday. One or two pauses for pondering but by and large all well. Thanks to Rufus and to Kitty. 1.5*/3*
A quickie today but good nevertheless. Nicely balanced the long toil for Saturday’s prize crossword. Both enjoyable at opposite ends of the spectrum. Thanks Rufus and Kitty – especially the photo of Richard Beckinsale doing his time, stir, or porridge. Sadly he did not have enough time in real life but not forgotten.
I’m so glad you liked it. Spent ages searching for the perfect clip to use, when I should have been sleeping or getting some actual hints written.
A lovely mate in the pub tonight told me, “no point in your looking at todays crossword when you get home, you’ll find it far to easy”.
He’s fairly new to cross wording & normally needs lots of hints & TLC to solve a tricky puzzle.
Oh how he will appreciate a gentle offering such as our one today when he sees the light.
As we all suspect, he must really had loved every minute of scribbling away, & at last being able to throw his biro at the paper & say “finished”.
Bless him, & thanks to the setter & Kitty.
SW corner was a long slog for me, the rest was an enjoyable romp. Last in was the urchin, 18d, found by using a thesaurus for gloom words. Although I’d heard of the bird, was not aware of its other usage. So I will rate a little harder than the rest of you, 3 and 4 for me.
Belatedly I have finally caught up! A lovely Monday crossword from Rufus even when done on a Tuesday. The urchin at 18d was my favourite and overall 1.5/3*
Thanks to Rufus and to Kitty for her excellent review.
What on earth has a male sheep got to do with 4d???
Otherwise a super puzzle. I did it all with a paper dictionary to confirm meanings, without looking at Dave for hints – only checked afterwards to see if I was correct. Very proud of myself.
Hi Nan,
That was an ill-advised hint, continuing on from that for 1a. For the explanation, see comment 11.
Well done on your progress :good:.